"Kayla," Amy said in a nervous chuckle, but Kayla was not smiling one bit.
"Hi," Cole said with an awkward smile towards Kayla.
"Is Tris asleep?" Amy asked her.
"Yes, I finally put him to bed," she responded, her eyes fixed on Cole.
"Well then, I guess I should be going," Cole said, looking over at Amy.
"You should," was Kayla's response. It was very harsh that Cole and Amy looked at her at once.
"Good night Amy," Cole said and walked away.
Amy turned in his direction and attempted to apologize, but stopped as soon as he entered his car. She turned to Kayla. "Was that really necessary?" She asked, staring at her friend.
"I should have done worse. He's lucky tonight," Kayla replied, retreating into the house.
Amy followed her. "What has he done to you that you cannot try to be nice to him?"
"Everything," Kayla responded.
"Name them," Amy replied, dropping her bag on the couch.
"He hurt you, Amy," Kayla said as she turned to look at her friend. "Severally.. and there's more hurt where that came from, if you keep associating with him," she added.
"Exactly, Kayla. He hurt me, not you. I'm the one who should be mad, not you. I'm the one who should have anger bottled up inside me, but I'm not," Amy replied.
"Cuss me for trying to be on the lookout for you," Kayla replied, walking away.
"Kayla," Amy called after her in an exhausting tone.
"Don't you get it?" Kayla asked, turning around. "Anyone who hurts you has hurt me. By hurting you, he has hurt me,"
"I know," Amy sighed. She knew Kayla was looking out for her, but she just felt she was doing it the wrong way. "But, he's trying his best now. To be for Tris. He's trying to be nice, Kayla,"
Kayla folded her arms across her chest. "Trying to be nice? What about Shantel?"
"You said it's a rumor yourself," Amy replied.
"What if it's not?" Kayla asked her, looking her dead in the eye and Amy was taken aback by her question. " What're you gonna do?" She asked another and Amy was too stunned to respond.
|||
"Alpha, you're yet to look into the contract application forwarded to you by the manager from Lexicon," Grey, Cole's beta and head manager of the company said.
Cole's fingers ticked off on the laptop in front of him. "Yeah, that. Isn't that supposed to be your job and that of Anthony?" He asked, without taking his eyes off the screen.
"Yes, but we need an approval from you before going ahead to award them the contract," Grey replied.
"I'll look into it tonight," he responded.
Grey nodded. "Also, you haven't visited the pack in a long while. Your father is getting upset with you by the day,"
Cole snickered. What more did the old man want from him? "He's still in charge of the pack despite me being the alpha. I'm sure the pack is in order,"
"But still," Grey began to say, but Cole cut him short.
"I'm quite busy right now, Grey. Let's have this conversation some other time," Cole said.
"Sure," Grey replied and stood up. With a slight bow, he turned away.
Just then Liam walked into the office. "Alpha Liam," Grey greeted and Cole was forced to look away from his laptop screen at the mention of his friend.
Liam gave Grey a small smile and Grey walked out of the office.
Cole leaned back in his seat with a smug smile on his face. "Fancy seeing you here. It's been how long? Ages?" He asked.
Liam gave a sly grin as he walked over to the couch by the wall. "Don't get too cocky, dear best friend. It has only been months. Besides, you come to my office, don't you?" He asked as he sat down, crossing his legs.
That was exactly Cole's point. Liam hasn't been in his office for a while and that was when Cole started visiting him. Until, he got so busy with Amy, that he stopped.
"What brings you here, Liam?" Cole asked.
"Don't I have the right to visit my friend anymore?" He answered Cole's question with a question.
Cole stared at him. "You have a lot of questions on your mind, considering the fact that our last meeting was quite an awkward situation, maybe, unpleasant if I may add,"
Liam chuckled. "Because you said Amy was just your baby mama, but you came out of the blue and offered her a drive home when I was just about to say something?" He asked.
Cole smirked. "Now we're getting somewhere,"
Liam shrugged as he adjusted his cufflinks. "Look, Cole. We've been friends since childhood and I don't think a woman should be why we get drifted apart. I like Amy, yes, but she's your baby's mother and your mate. I can't beat that,"
"So?" Cole had an inquisitive look in his eyes.
"I'm backing down for you,"
"You're backing down or you don't stand a chance," Cole teased.
"Excuse me?" Liam asked with a raised brow.
"How can you possibly stand a chance, when this load of awesomeness is present in her life?" Cole asked cockily.
Liam gave a snotty laugh. "I'm backing down because it's you and I don't want to ruin our friendship. If you fuck up, I won't back out next time,"
Cole chuckled. "You're crazy,"
"Maybe," Liam replied with a smile. Just then he thought of something. "What about Shantel?" He asked out of the blue. Cole had totally forgotten someone like that existed.
~~~~
"Oh my, this is so hilarious," Shantel's friend, Maya laughed as she scrolled through videos on TikTok.
Shantel pulled out a bottle of whiskey from the wine shelf and poured it into a glass. "Get off the phone, Maya and come grab a drink with me," she said out loud to Maya.
"I'm coming. Just give me..." She didn't get to finish when she screamed. "Oh my God!"
"What is it?" Shantel panicked. "Was my makeup horrible during the shoot? I knew it! I told Amanda, but she said it was perfect. Are blogs talking about it right now?" She asked in sheer horror. She was scared that she didn't look perfect online.
Maya didn't know what to say.
"Talk to me," Shantel said, walking over to her. Maya stood up and before she could say anything, Shantel snatched the phone from her hand.
"I'll just see it for myself. It can't be that bad, it's just ..." She could not complete her statement as she stared at the screen of Maya's phone. She went numb as she saw the pictures and videos of Cole with another woman and a boy. To crown it all, the TikTok handler used the caption, #Perfect couple.
"A ruined makeup would have been much better than this," Maya said, sympathetically.